15 cm SK L/45
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP | 15 cm SK L/45 | |
|---|---|
 Gun salvaged from SMS Bremse, at the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre, Hoy, Orkney | |
| Type | Naval gun Railroad gun Coastal artillery |
| Place of origin | German Empire |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1908—45 |
| Used by | Germany |
| Wars | World War I World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Krupp |
| Designed | 1906 |
| Manufacturer | Krupp |
| Produced | 1908 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 5,730 kilograms (12,630 lb) |
| Length | 6.71 metres (22 ft 0 in) |
Barrel length | 6.32 metres (20 ft 9 in)L/45 |
| Shell | separate loading quick fire |
| Caliber | 149.1 millimetres (5.87 in) |
| Breech | horizontal sliding-wedge |
| Recoil | Hydro-spring |
| Elevation | See table |
| Traverse | -150° to +150° |
| Rate of fire | 5-7 rpm |
| Muzzle velocity | 840 metres per second (2,800 ft/s) |
| Maximum firing range | See table |
The 15 cm SK L/45[Note 1] was a German naval gun used in World War I and World War II.
Contents
1 Naval service
2 Ammunition
3 Coast Defense Gun
4 Railroad Gun
5 See also
5.1 Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
6 Footnotes
7 References
8 External links
The 15 cm SK L/45 was a widely used naval gun on many classes of World War I Dreadnoughts and Cruisers in both casemates and turrets. It was constructed of an A tube and two layers of hoops with a Krupp horizontal sliding-wedge breech block. During World War I a few pre-war cruisers that were armed with 10.5 cm guns were rearmed with these weapons. In World War II the 15 cm SK L/45 was widely used as Coastal artillery and as primary armament on German Auxiliary Cruisers.
Ship classes that carried the 15 cm SK L/45 include:
- Bremen-class
- Brummer-class
- Graudenz-class
- Kolberg-class
- Magdeburg-class
- Pillau-class
Type of Mount | Designation | Weight | Elevation | Range (during World War I) | Ship classes |
| Single pedestal mounts in casemates | MPL C/06 | 15,770 kg (34,770 lb) | -7° to +20° | 14.9 km (9.3 mi) at 20° | Nassau, Helgoland, Kaiser, von der Tann, Moltke, Blücher |
| MPL C/06.11 | 16,533 kg (36,449 lb) | -10° to +19° | 13.5 km (8.4 mi) at +19 | König, Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Lutzow | |
| MPL C/13 | 17,950 kg (39,570 lb) | -8.5° to +19 | 13.5 km (8.4 mi) at +19 | Bayern, Hindenburg, Mackensen | |
| MPL C/13 mod | 18,350 kg (40,450 lb) | -8.5° to +22 | 15.8 km (9.8 mi) at +22 | Wartime modification to MPL C/13 | |
| Single pedestal mounts in open half-shields | MPL C/14 | 16,185 kg (35,682 lb) | -10° to +22° | 15.8 km (9.8 mi) at +22 | Wiesbaden, Königsberg II |
| MPL C/16 | 17,116 kg (37,734 lb) | -10° to +27° | 16.8 km (10.4 mi) at +27 | Cöln II, Emden II | |
| MPL C/16 mod | -10° to +30 | 17.6 km (10.9 mi) at +30 | wartime modification to MPL C/16 |
Ammunition
Ammunition was of separate loading quick fire type. The projectiles were 61 cm (2 ft) long with a single bagged charge which weighed 13–14 kg (29–31 lb).
The gun was able to fire:
Armor Piercing 45.3 kg (100 lb)
High Explosive Base Fuzed 45.3 kg (100 lb)
High Explosive Nose Fuzed 45.3 kg (100 lb)
Common Shell 45.3 kg (100 lb)
Coast Defense Gun
15 cm SK L/45 coastal artillery gun at Nordarnøy, Gildeskål, Norway
Rear view of the above pictured gun
The same gun was used for coast defense duties in concrete emplacements after World War I. One example was 3./Marine-Artillerie Abteilung 604 ("3rd Battery of Naval Artillery Battalion 604") in Jersey.[2] They show it using 44 kilograms (97 lb) shells with a range of 18,000 metres (20,000 yd)
Railroad Gun
It was also used as a railroad gun during World War I.
See also
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
BL 6 inch Mk XII naval gun British equivalent
Footnotes
- Notes
^ SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon); L - Länge in Kaliber (length in caliber)
- Citations
^ from NavWeaps
^ Gander and Chamberlain, p. 266
References
Gander, Terry; Chamberlain, Peter (1979). Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-15090-3.
Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to 15 cm Schnelladekanone L/45. |
- the 15cm SK L/45 on NavWeaps
